Walgreens exec, alum is UIS commencement speaker

Sunday

A top Walgreens executive and University of Illinois Springfield alum will be the speaker at the universityís commencement exercises on May 17.

Donovan Pepper, national director of local government relations for Walgreens, will address the 732 students participating in the ceremony. A total of 1,311 students are eligible to graduate.

Pepper is responsible for local legislative and lobbying efforts for the Deerfield-based drugstore chain at the municipal and county levels in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

He earned both bachelorís and masterís degrees in political studies from UIS. As a student leader in the early 1990s, he was so highly regarded as Student Government Association president that his peers renamed the student leadership award after him while he was still a student. For the past 20 years, the SGA leader who demonstrates the most outstanding leadership earns the Donovan Pepper Award.

Prior to his career at Walgreens, Pepper served as director of government relations for the Illinois Restaurant Association. He also worked for SBC (now AT&T) and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and served on the appropriations and substantive committee staff for the Illinois House Democrats, where he focused on areas of transportation, higher education and consumer protection.

Pepper received the UIS Alumni Association Loyalty Award for exceptional alumni service in 2008. He and his wife, Heidi Waltner-Pepper, who also is a UIS graduate, have two children.

Springfield business leader Evelyn Brandt Thomas will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony. She is the co-owner of BRANDT, a multimillion-dollar international agriculture company based in Springfield.

At age 90, Brandt Thomas continues to have an active role in the business, going to work nearly every day.

She has also been active in philanthropy for many years, making significant contributions to 4-H and many other nonprofit organizations in central Illinois as well as to the University of Illinois campuses in Springfield and Urbana.

She has encouraged women to pursue careers in business through her support of the Evelyn Brandt Thomas Scholarship at UIS.

Tickets are not required for admission, and seating at the Prairie Capital Convention Center will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no reserved seating except for special needs such as interpretive services and wheelchairs. The doors to the main floor of the center will open at 3 p.m., with the ceremony beginning at 4 p.m.

A number of graduation-related events are planned for graduates, their families and guests, beginning with a reception for Peoria-area students on May 9. Separate brunches for CAP Honors graduates and online degree graduates are scheduled for the morning of May 17.

Admission to some commencement events is by invitation only. Updated information, including a complete list of events, is available from the commencement website at www.uis.edu/commencement/.

The ceremony will be webcast live at www.uis.edu/technology/uislive.html. DVDs at $25 each also can also be ordered from the Office of Electronic Media, phone 206-6799. More information is available at the UIS commencement website at www.uis.edu/commencement/.

Donald Morris, professor of accountancy, has been chosen to serve as grand marshal of the commencement. The student speaker will be Zachary Sullivan, who will graduate with a masterís degree in political science.

Information

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